Oh come on, I have heard this statement so often!
The Holy Bible is not from the “Catholic Church, the one and only church” as you (not only you but other Catholics here also) keep claiming, but from the Early Christians. I have said that over and over again: The Early Christians and the Catholic Church as we know it now is NOT THE SAME!
Hi Esdra - Yes, the Holy Bible was compiled by Catholics. And, St. Jerome was the first translator.
According to the Didache, the early Church is very much the same as the Catholic Church today!
The apostles were simply the “first Christians” if you want so. So, yes indeed, Christ is and was and always will be with them. I see the Apostles as a sort of modern Evangelists. I am currently reading 1 Corinthians and here Paul states that pretty well (cf. 1 Cor 3+4).
Yes, the apostles were the first Christians, meaning they were following Christ. However, as the Church began to take shape as a whole, it was referred to as Catholic.
Ignatius of Antioch
“Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist which is celebrated by the bishop or by one whom he ordains . Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church” (Letter to the Smyrneans 8:2 **A.D. ****110]). **
The Martyrdom of Polycarp
“And of the elect, he was one indeed, the wonderful martyr Polycarp, who in our days was an apostolic and prophetic teacher, bishop of the **Catholic Church **in Smyrna. For every word which came forth from his mouth was fulfilled and will be fulfilled” (Martyrdom of Polycarp 16:2 **A.D. 155]). **
Tertullian
“Where was [the heretic] Marcion, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago—in the reign of Antonius for the most part—and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of the blessed Eleutherius, until on account of their ever restless curiosity, with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled” (Demurrer Against the Heretics 30 **[A.D. 200]). **
Cyprian of Carthage
“They alone have remained outside [the Church] who, were they within, would have to be ejected.
. . . There [in John 6:68–69] speaks Peter, upon whom the Church would be built, teaching in the name of the Church and showing that even if a stubborn and proud multitude withdraws because it does not wish to obey, yet the Church does not withdraw from Christ. The people joined to the priest, and the flock clinging to their shepherd in the Church. You ought to know, then, that the bishop is in the Church and the Church in the bishops; and if someone is not with the bishop, he is not in the Church. They vainly flatter themselves who creep up, not having peace with the priest of God, believing that they are secretly in communion with certain individuals. For the Church,** which is one and catholic**, is not split or divided, but is indeed united and joined by the cement of priests who adhere to one another” (Letters 66[67]:8 **[A.D. 253]). **
Council of Nicaea I
“But those who say: ‘There was [a time] when he [the Son] was not,’ and ‘before he was born, he was not,’ and ‘because he was made from non-existing matter, he is either of another substance or essence,’ and those who call ‘God the Son of God changeable and mutable,’ these the** Catholic Church **anathematizes” (Appendix to the Creed of Nicaea A.D. 325]).
“Concerning the Paulianists who take refuge with the Catholic Church, a decree has been published that they should be fully baptized. If, however, any of these in times past have been in the clerical order, if indeed they have appeared spotless and above reproach, after being baptized, let them be ordained by the bishop of the Catholic Church” (Canon 9).
Cyril of Jerusalem
“[The Church] is called catholic, then, because it extends over the whole world, from end to end of the earth, and because it teaches universally and infallibly each and every doctrine which must come to the knowledge of men, concerning things visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly, and because it brings every race of men into subjection to godliness, governors and governed, learned and unlearned, and because it universally treats and heals every class of sins, those committed with the soul and those with the body, and it possesses within itself every conceivable form of virtue, in deeds and in words and in the spiritual gifts of every description” (Catechetical Lectures 18:23 **[A.D. 350]). **
“And if you ever are visiting in cities, do not inquire simply where the house of the Lord is—for the others, sects of the impious, attempt to call their dens ‘houses of the Lord’—nor ask merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the name peculiar to this holy Church, the mother of us all, which is the spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God” (ibid., 18:26).
And also the gates of hell did not prevail against Christ’s Church.
Amen!
Do you really think that Christ or god are so picky that they only accept ONE particular Church
I hear what you are saying, but it is clear that Jesus Christ established ONE church.
This is a book written by a man that claimed things like the Garden of Eden was in Missouri (funny stuff yes, but it would have been better if Joesph Smith claimed it to be in Branson Missouri… maybe Andy Williams could have sang Moon River form Adam and Eve) I could go on and on but don’t take my word for it, research the Mormon cult… err I mean religion on your own and laughter will soon ensue.